20 films that take place around New Year's Eve

Where else would we start? It’s a movie literally called “New Year’s Eve,” and it’s about New Year’s Eve. Also, it’s bad. This is one of Garry Marshall’s holiday-centric ensemble comedies, none of which are funny. And yet, “New Year’s Eve” may be the least bad of the three.

“Ghostbusters” is one of the best comedies of the ‘80s, but what to do for an encore? The sequel is a little sloppy and a little lacking in structure, but it has some great moments. After all, with a cast this stellar, you are going to have some funny stuff in the mix. “Ghostbusters II” is also a film set around the New Year. After all, the evil pink slime first rises to the streets of New York City on New Year’s Eve, meaning the film's climax takes place on the holiday.

“The Poseidon Adventure” is classified as one of the “disaster films” of the era. That’s because it has an ensemble cast and, well, a disaster happens. If “The Towering Inferno” can be considered a disaster movie, so can “The Poseidon Adventure.” You may know that this is a movie about a luxury liner that capsizes, but if you haven’t seen the film, you might not know the cruise is happening around the new year, with a New Year’s Eve celebration planned as part of the trip.

This movie is like “New Year’s Eve” in that it is an ensemble film about New Year’s Eve involving a lot of unconnected (or barely connected) stories. That is the only way in which this indie comedy is like “New Year’s Eve,” though. If you were wondering if Dave Chappelle and Courtney Love have even been in the same movie, the answer is yes. What’s somewhat surprising is that “200 Cigarettes” is a 1999 film about New Year’s Eve, but it’s set in 1981. No turn of the millennium here.

The George Clooney-led “Ocean’s” movies have become the films of record for Danny Ocean and company. However, we must note that Steven Soderbergh’s first film in that series is a (loose) adaptation of this 1960 Rat Pack movie. Yes, every member of the Rat Pack is in this one, with Frank Sinatra playing Danny Ocean. In this movie, though, the heist is planned to coincide with New Year’s Eve celebrations in Las Vegas.

Of course, eventually, somebody would make a period piece about Y2K, and of course, it would be a horror comedy. Kyle Mooney’s film essentially operates with the premise that the fears of Y2K actually happened, and then some. In terms of execution, though “Y2K” is flawed, if fitfully successful. Hey, at least Fred Durst is in it.

Bob Clark’s proto-slasher “Black Christmas” came out in 1974. John Carpenter codified the slasher genre in America with 1978’s “Halloween.” After that, it only took a couple of years until somebody realized they could do a New Year’s Eve slasher movie and call it “New Year’s Evil.” This cheap Cannon horror film borrows from “Black Christmas” in that it features menacing phone calls. In this case, a punk DJ keeps getting calls from a mysterious killer who plans to murder somebody every time a new time zone ushers in the new year. It’s dumb, but a movie like “New Year’s Evil” needed to happen eventually.

There are a few movies on this list that aren’t fully set around the new year, but they have a stretch of the film that is, and it is substantive and vital to the film. “Boogie Nights” is the perfect example of that. Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakthrough film focuses on the adult film industry in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. The tenor of the film palpably turns with one New Year’s Eve party. The largely carefree debauchery of the crew dissolves forever when Little Bill snaps that day.

“The Apartment” is more dramedy than comedy, but it’s more comedic than most Best Picture winners, to be sure. This is basically a Christmas Eve through New Year’s Eve film, so that’ll work for this list. Jack Lemmon is a cog in a large New York insurance company, but he’s climbing the corporate ladder because he lets the executives use his apartment for their extramarital affairs. However, when he falls for the elevator operator, who is having an affair with one of the executives, things get complicated both personally and professionally.

The late Rob Reiner (and the late Nora Ephron) joined forces for what is perhaps the quintessential romantic comedy. Harry and Sally, played indelibly by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, come in and out of one another’s lives. They flit between friendship and romance and have what she’s having. In the mix are multiple New Year’s Eve parties, which makes sense for two young romantics in 1980s New York City.

John Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13” is bare bones, vibes-heavy, and almost alien. It takes place in South Central Los Angeles, but it feels like it takes place nowhere, and at no particular time. The 2005 remake is much more your traditional, boilerplate action movie. One change that does get made is that this time the film takes place on New Year’s Eve.

“Four Rooms” was a buzzy anthology film in 1995, given that two of the four segments were handled, respectively, by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The film takes place at a fictional hotel in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve, with Tim Roth playing a bellhop who ties the stories together. Ultimately, while a lot of people liked Rodriguez’s segment and Tarantino’s was polarizing, the other two segments were largely panned, and the movie was considered a disappointment.

“American Graffiti” made George Lucas’ career, and it is a movie set over a single night. “More American Graffiti,” which Lucas neither wrote nor directed, takes a different approach. This time, instead of following the characters over one night, the film follows them over five consecutive New Year’s Eves. That’s interesting, but the execution was relatively poor.

This is the first sequel to “The Thin Man,” and it is the best movie in the franchise. It has more heft than the other sequels and better production values than the original. Nick and Nora Charles, the idly rich power couple, once again tap into Nick’s past as a private eye when a mystery unfurls. This time, the events kick off when the Charleses return from yet another vacation on New Year’s Eve.

As a movie with separate timelines, “The Godfather Part II” obviously is not focused on New Year’s Eve. However, what is the most famous part of this iconic movie? It’s the New Year’s Eve party in Havana, Cuba. It’s Michael telling Fredo he knows he’s a traitor and that he broke Michael’s heart. There is, perhaps, no more notable New Year’s Eve party in all of film.

Like John Hughes, Nancy Meyers seems to have no real sense of how actual people act, but like John Hughes, that hasn’t stopped her from succeeding. Plus, she has all those fancy kitchens in her movies. “The Holiday” features two women, one British and one American, swapping swank houses for the holiday season. Love ensues for both women, and the happy endings occur on New Year’s Eve.

Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in a screwball comedy? Yeah, that’ll work. Grant plays a self-made man who finds out his fiancée comes from money and never had to work a day in her life. She, of course, has a vibrant, outspoken younger sister played by Hepburn. You’ll never guess what ends up happening there. The movie is focused around the new year, including a New Year’s Eve party that doubles as an engagement party.

Allan Arkush is a graduate of the Roger Corman school of filmmaking, getting his start alongside Joe Dante. While Dante had the better career, Arkush directed “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,” which rules. He also directed the bizarre cult musical “Get Crazy.” It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and the Saturn Theater is gearing up for its annual epic New Year’s Eve concert. While all the (perfunctory) plot elements unfold, we get several musical performances, all of them somewhat spoofy and a mixed bag in terms of quality.

You remember the lasers. Even if you have never seen “Entrapment,” you remember the lasers. Specifically, you remember Catherine Zeta-Jones and the lasers. Did you know, or remember, though, that this movie takes place around the turn of the millennium, and one of the heists takes advantage of, yes, Y2K? It’s true! This movie is all Y2K and lasers!

“An Affair to Remember” is worth ending on because, for starters, it’s considered one of the most romantic movies ever made. Beyond that, though, it directly influenced “Sleepless in Seattle.” Once again, Cary Grant is part of the romance. During a New Year’s cruise, two people who are currently attached fall for one another, and they memorably agree that in six months, if they want to be with the other person, they will go to the top of the Empire State Building. Of course, it’s a sweeping 1950s romance, so it can’t be that simple, which means another six-month jump to take us full circle.